7th Grade English Language Arts and Reading (Texas TEKS)

110.23(b)(1) Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, discussion, and thinking--oral language

• 110.23(b)(1) Students build oral skills through active listening, speaking, and group discussion.
• 110.23(b)(1)(A) Listen actively and ask clarifying questions that build on others' ideas.
• 110.23(b)(1)(B) Follow and give complex spoken instructions to complete tasks or solve problems.
• 110.23(b)(1)(C) Deliver a critique of a book, film, or play using effective speaking delivery.
• 110.23(b)(1)(D) Take part in meaningful discussion, giving and accepting constructive feedback.

110.23(b)(2) Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--vocabulary

• 110.23(b)(2) Students use new vocabulary expressively and learn word meanings through resources, context, and roots.
• 110.23(b)(2)(A) Use print or digital tools to learn a word's meaning, pronunciation, origin, and part of speech.
• 110.23(b)(2)(B) Use surrounding context, such as contrast or cause and effect, to clarify word meanings.
• 110.23(b)(2)(C) Determine meaning and usage of academic words built from Greek and Latin roots.

110.23(b)(3) Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--fluency

• 110.23(b)(3) Students read grade-level texts fluently with comprehension, adjusting pace to their purpose.

110.23(b)(4) Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--self-sustained reading

• 110.23(b)(4) Students independently read self-chosen, grade-appropriate texts for extended periods.

110.23(b)(5) Comprehension skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

• 110.23(b)(5) Students use metacognitive strategies to deepen understanding of increasingly complex texts.
• 110.23(b)(5)(A) Set a purpose for reading both assigned and self-selected texts.
• 110.23(b)(5)(B) Ask questions before, during, and after reading to deepen understanding.
• 110.23(b)(5)(C) Make predictions using text features, genre, and structure, then confirm or correct them.
• 110.23(b)(5)(D) Form mental images to deepen understanding of text.
• 110.23(b)(5)(E) Connect the text to personal experience, other texts, and society.
• 110.23(b)(5)(F) Infer meaning and support understanding with text evidence.
• 110.23(b)(5)(G) Weigh details to identify the text's key ideas.
• 110.23(b)(5)(H) Combine information to form new understanding.
• 110.23(b)(5)(I) Monitor understanding and adjust through rereading, background knowledge, questions, or annotation.

110.23(b)(6) Response skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

• 110.23(b)(6) Students respond thoughtfully to increasingly varied sources that are read, heard, or viewed.
• 110.23(b)(6)(A) Describe personal connections to varied sources, including self-selected texts.
• 110.23(b)(6)(B) Write responses showing comprehension, comparing sources within and across genres.
• 110.23(b)(6)(C) Support responses with evidence from the text.
• 110.23(b)(6)(D) Paraphrase and summarize texts while keeping meaning and logical sequence.
• 110.23(b)(6)(E) Engage with sources through notes, annotations, freewriting, or illustrations.
• 110.23(b)(6)(F) Use newly learned vocabulary in responses when appropriate.
• 110.23(b)(6)(G) Discuss and write about both stated and implied meanings in texts.
• 110.23(b)(6)(H) Respond orally or in writing with appropriate register, tone, and voice.
• 110.23(b)(6)(I) Reflect on and adjust responses when new evidence emerges.

110.23(b)(7) Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--literary elements

• 110.23(b)(7) Students analyze literary elements across increasingly complex literary texts from varied traditions.
• 110.23(b)(7)(A) Infer several themes within and across texts using evidence.
• 110.23(b)(7)(B) Analyze how character traits shape events and how conflicts get resolved.
• 110.23(b)(7)(C) Analyze plot elements, such as foreshadowing and suspense, that move the story forward.
• 110.23(b)(7)(D) Analyze how the setting shapes characters and plot development.

110.23(b)(8) Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--genres

• 110.23(b)(8) Students recognize and analyze genre-specific features and purposes across complex texts.
• 110.23(b)(8)(A) Show knowledge of literary genres such as realistic fiction, mystery, fantasy, and science fiction.
• 110.23(b)(8)(B) Analyze how rhyme, meter, and punctuation or capitalization shape poems.
• 110.23(b)(8)(C) Analyze how playwrights build characters through dialogue and staging.
• 110.23(b)(8)(D) Analyze informational text features such as thesis, supporting evidence, and organization.
• 110.23(b)(8)(D)(i) Identify the controlling idea or thesis and the evidence supporting it.
• 110.23(b)(8)(D)(ii) Recognize features such as references or acknowledgements.
• 110.23(b)(8)(D)(iii) Identify organizational patterns covering multiple topics, categories, and subcategories.
• 110.23(b)(8)(E) Analyze argumentative texts by claim, evidence, and intended audience.
• 110.23(b)(8)(E)(i) Identify the claim.
• 110.23(b)(8)(E)(ii) Explain how evidence and consideration of alternatives support the argument.
• 110.23(b)(8)(E)(iii) Identify the intended audience or reader.
• 110.23(b)(8)(F) Analyze the features of multimodal and digital texts.

110.23(b)(9) Author's purpose and craft: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

• 110.23(b)(9) Students critically examine authors' choices and how they shape meaning, applying craft in their own work.
• 110.23(b)(9)(A) Explain an author's purpose and message within a text.
• 110.23(b)(9)(B) Analyze how text structure supports the author's purpose.
• 110.23(b)(9)(C) Analyze how print and graphic features serve specific purposes.
• 110.23(b)(9)(D) Describe how figurative language, like metaphor and personification, achieves purposes.
• 110.23(b)(9)(E) Identify literary devices, including subjective and objective points of view, and their purposes.
• 110.23(b)(9)(F) Analyze how word choice shapes mood, voice, and tone.
• 110.23(b)(9)(G) Explain the purpose of rhetorical devices and of logical fallacies such as loaded language.

110.23(b)(10) Composition: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--writing process

• 110.23(b)(10) Students recursively use the writing process to produce legible, conventionally correct texts.
• 110.23(b)(10)(A) Plan a first draft by choosing a genre suited to topic, purpose, and audience.
• 110.23(b)(10)(B) Develop drafts into focused, structured, coherent writing.
• 110.23(b)(10)(B)(i) Organize with clear structure, transitions, coherence, and a conclusion.
• 110.23(b)(10)(B)(ii) Develop an engaging idea with specific facts, details, and examples.
• 110.23(b)(10)(C) Revise drafts for clarity, organization, style, word choice, and sentence variety.
• 110.23(b)(10)(D) Edit drafts using standard English conventions.
• 110.23(b)(10)(D)(i) Write complete complex sentences, avoiding splices, run-ons, and fragments, with subject-verb agreement.
• 110.23(b)(10)(D)(ii) Use verb tenses consistently and appropriately.
• 110.23(b)(10)(D)(iii) Use conjunctive adverbs correctly.
• 110.23(b)(10)(D)(iv) Apply prepositions and prepositional phrases correctly with subject-verb agreement.
• 110.23(b)(10)(D)(v) Use pronoun-antecedent agreement correctly.
• 110.23(b)(10)(D)(vi) Use subordinating and correlative conjunctions correctly.
• 110.23(b)(10)(D)(vii) Apply correct capitalization.
• 110.23(b)(10)(D)(viii) Punctuate with commas around words, phrases, and clauses, and use semicolons.
• 110.23(b)(10)(D)(ix) Spell correctly, including commonly confused words like its/it's and to/two/too.
• 110.23(b)(10)(E) Publish written work for suitable audiences.

110.23(b)(11) Composition: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--genres

• 110.23(b)(11) Students compose meaningful literary, informational, argumentative, and correspondence texts using genre craft.
• 110.23(b)(11)(A) Compose literary texts such as personal narratives, fiction, and poetry.
• 110.23(b)(11)(B) Write multi-paragraph informational essays with a clear controlling idea or thesis.
• 110.23(b)(11)(C) Write multi-paragraph argumentative texts using genre craft.
• 110.23(b)(11)(D) Write correspondence that states an opinion, registers a complaint, or requests information.

110.23(b)(12) Inquiry and research: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

• 110.23(b)(12) Students run short and sustained inquiry, evaluating and ethically using sources.
• 110.23(b)(12)(A) Generate student-chosen and teacher-guided questions for inquiry.
• 110.23(b)(12)(B) Develop a research plan and revise it as needed.
• 110.23(b)(12)(C) Refine the main research question based on answers to secondary questions.
• 110.23(b)(12)(D) Find and collect relevant information from a range of sources.
• 110.23(b)(12)(E) Distinguish primary sources from secondary sources.
• 110.23(b)(12)(F) Combine information from multiple sources.
• 110.23(b)(12)(G) Tell paraphrasing apart from plagiarism when using sources.
• 110.23(b)(12)(H) Evaluate sources for reliability, credibility, bias, and faulty reasoning.
• 110.23(b)(12)(H)(i) Assess reliability, credibility, and bias in sources.
• 110.23(b)(12)(H)(ii) Spot faulty reasoning such as exaggeration, emotional appeals, and stereotypes.
• 110.23(b)(12)(I) Show academic citations and use sources ethically.
• 110.23(b)(12)(J) Present findings in a suitable written, oral, or multimodal format.